Birthday Weekend Away

What a fun filled weekend!

It started with a beautiful afternoon wedding of my gorgeous friend in the city...I had such a chuckle that I got a mention in her wedding speech AND an applause from the room for encouraging & persuading the bride some 3 1/2 years ago to go on RSVP & pushing her to keep on keeping on with her hunt when she was exhausted with the process...

The weekend then continued with a night away with the hubby at the Westin (our first ever night away from our daughter!). The staff at the Westin couldn't be sweeter with the cutest note & bottle of champas upon arrival to our room. The room had great views of the city & the colourful yarn bombing below the hotel.Which of course I photographed up close. It was also great to be overlooking my fav city building - the Nicholson building. So much to explore in the Nicholson building!

Delicious dinner at Izakaya Den which included sipping from some very Kawaii cups & dipping sweet bread into Salted Caramel fondue! The night concluded with a good laugh at a street performer playing some tunes in a costume!

The next day - my birthday - and even The Age magazine was celebrating for me by penning an article all about craft.

We headed on over to China Town for the Chinese New Year celebrations & saw the dragon up close & personal. I snapped a pic of these funky & colourful high tops from the always on trend shoe shop Miss Louise.

Then off to see my little girl & family & eat lots of cake (of course the kitschiest of kitsch ice cream cake was ordered for me!)

It was one busy & fun birthday weekend.

Marie Antoinette high tea

Today I celebrated my most elegant of friends Hens Day.

I organised the soirée & of course it needed style, grace & poise...just like her!

So, before i describe the day & its trimmings, I'll fill you in about the beautiful bride to be...

She loves the bygone era (circa 1930); plush, velvety furnishings, is the best gift wrapper I have ever known, loves ribbons & pearls, has immaculate taste, attention to detail & loves nothing better than a cup of tea in delicate china & a decadent bite size cake.

So, of course I had to make the day as special & elegant as I could.

My mind was awash with a Marie Antoinette style afternoon tea.

I searched etsy for a suitable invite & found the perfect one from 'Through the looking glass'
It turned out perfectly!

I then turned my attention to the venue. With lots of great high teas in Melbourne it was hard to choose.
Mámor Chocolate and High Tea & Szalón felt like the perfect spot. Old Europe meets high tea. Chosen of course for its lavish furnishings.


Now onto the trimmings for the day.
A hens day bonbonierre.
I baked cookies in the shape of a wedding dress & made them look special with white fondant & pearl white dust to give them a pearlescent shine.

Of course packaging is important. So I tied the cookies up with satin ribbon & to keep on theme I added a Marie Antoinette tag and attached an English Breakfast tea bag which I covered with a tea quote paper which had beautiful vintage silhouettes of 2 girls having tea on them. The wrapper was actually suppose to be a tea coaster, but I shrunk the design & turned them into tea bag wrappers.

The tag & "wrapper" was found on etsy at MaBellePapeterie.

The location was just perfect for the bride to be. Located in Collingwood, Mámor is lavishly furnished and upholstered with antique chairs and divans, chandeliers bespeckled of crystals, plush velvet pillows, silver accessories sparkling to the glint, and traditional cutlery and crockery. Tea settings are antique and imperial, with gold and silver, and with rich tablecloths the bride to be was in tea heaven.

We dined on scones & jam, Hungarian treats & decadent sweets served in goblets. Washed down with a lovely pot of tea.

A Very Marie Antoinette afternoon it was